


To Talk, To Know

by afteriwake



Series: Lingering Winter [7]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-16
Updated: 2012-10-16
Packaged: 2017-11-16 11:14:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/538837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He tries to talk to Hinamori about all that happened between them in Fake Karakura Town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Talk, To Know

This time, when they returned to Soul Society and Hinamori recuperated in the 4th squad headquarters, Hitsugaya didn’t stay away. Unohana kept her sleeping for long lengths of time to let her body heal, and every day, at least once per day, Hitsugaya would come into her room, sit by her bed and hold her hand. Unohana had tried to encourage him to talk to her, even if she wasn’t awake to hear him, but he couldn’t. It had never been hard to talk to her before, even if it was just teasing, but now he felt as if there was a gulf between them, and it was all Aizen’s fault.

Two weeks after their return he came in and saw that she was awake. He almost slipped out of the room but she turned and looked straight at him, a sad smile on her face. “Shiro-chan,” she said in a quiet voice. He hesitated at the door a moment, ignoring the hated nickname, before coming in and taking his customary seat next to her bed. She still looked weak, and looked as though she was on the verge of going back to sleep, but her smile brightened slightly when he sat down. “Captain Unohana said you’ve come by a lot. I’m glad.”

He nodded. “The last time…I should have come to see you.” She looked away from him, but there was a look of pain on her face that he glimpsed before she shut her eyes and her face relaxed. He felt stupid for bringing up the last time she had a sword run through her, especially since he didn’t know if she’d been told about Aizen’s demise yet. He looked down at his feet. “I shouldn’t have said that,” he added quietly.

“Captain Unohana told me what happened,” she said, and he lifted his head up. Her eyes were still closed, and he found it easier to look at her when she wasn’t looking directly at him. “You were the one to kill Gin Ichimaru.”

He shut his eyes. In that instant he saw it as though it was happening all over again. Gin made the attempt to kill Unohana, and in order to protect her and Hinamori he grabbed his sword and fought with Gin, a fight reminiscent of the one they’d had in Soul Society, only this one was to the death. In the end it was Gin who fell after Hitsugaya had stabbed him in the heart. The fact that Unohana did not try and stop him, nor did she try to help save Gin, proved to him that what he had done was the right course of action. It did not make it any easier, though, because in truth it was the first time he had killed anyone. His attacks on Harribel had not succeeded, nor had the one on Luppi, but this time his attack had had deadly results.

“I did what I had to do,” he said softly.

“You saved her. And me,” she said. He felt a hand on his cheek and he looked up to see that Hinamori had turned her head to look at him. “Thank you.”

“I wouldn’t have needed to save you from him if it hadn’t been my sword that ran through your chest,” he said sharply. He expected some reaction to what he said, or at the very least the tone in which he had said it, but her expression remained unchanged. If anything, she seemed closer to sleep at that point. “I’m sorry.”

“I know.” She still had her eyes closed, and her breathing was starting to slow. “You’re sorry for it all.”

“I didn’t mean to,” he whispered.

“I know,” she said. “Cap-- Aizen tricked you. He tricked everyone.”

“Captain Unohana told you that too,” he said.

“Yes,” she said quietly, and he could see she was slipping back into sleep. “I want to hate him, but…I can’t. But please don’t think I hate you. I could never hate you, Shiro-chan.”

Something inside him eased, and he reached over to hold her hand lightly as she drifted back into sleep. Later, when she was more awake and he knew better what he wanted to say, they would talk more. For now, though, knowing that she didn’t hate him made the prospect of that conversation something he wouldn’t worry about so much. And for now, he would hold her hand as she slept, lending her some of his own strength.


End file.
